FIRM OVERVIEW

Located in historic downtown Charleston, Cleveland & Conley, LLC limits its practice to representing exclusively employers in matters of labor and employment law. We have had the honor of representing employers with thousands of employees as well as those with fewer than ten, and everything in between. Experienced in working with public employers, private employers, and non-profits, we understand that every employer's need is different.

We focus on being accessible and on finding practical solutions to everyday challenges in the workplace, with our goal being prevention first. That may mean developing or modifying policies and practices, or providing training to help management understand the underlying legal basis for those policies and practices. When employee complaints or concerns arise, we can guide you through investigating and resolving disputes internally when possible.

When internal resolution is not possible, we represent employers at all levels of South Carolina state and federal courts, and before various governmental agencies, including the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, the United States Department of Labor, the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and the South Carolina Department of Employment Workforce.

We routinely advise clients and defend litigation relating to a myriad of workplace laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADAAA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Title VII (which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion or other protected status), the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), the South Carolina State Payment of Wages Act and Human Affairs laws and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. We also provide representation relating to employee benefit laws such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

With a significant portion of our clientele being public sector, we also are well-versed in the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, the Tort Claims Act, and the Constitutional considerations that result in different application of some employment laws to public employers, such as those relating to drug testing , union representation, polygraph testing and First Amendment protected speech in the workplace.

We hope for your sake that you will not need any employment lawyer on a frequent basis. However, for those occasions on which you do, we are here and we can help.